After two narrow losses in the final two days of the Discovery Canyon tournament, the Cañon City boys basketball team came up just short again against Mitchell, 43-39, on Tuesday night inside the Tiger Dome.

The Tigers (2-4) were stifled early by Mitchell's three-quarter-court pressure as they turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, including five in their final 11 possessions of the second quarter.

Junior Gunner Javernick picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter and had to exit with the Tigers up 7-4 for the remaining 12 minutes of the first half. From that point, the Marauders (1-4) closed the half on a 15-9 run to take a 19-16 lead at the half.

"(Javernick's second foul) was huge," Tigers coach Greg Baxter said. "When he's on the floor we look a lot better so that certainly impacted the game a little bit."

After a dismal first half of shooting (6 for 28), Cañon City came out hot to start the second half as it hit four of its first seven shots, but was never able to retake the lead.

Mitchell guard Diondre Scott played a big role in halting the Tigers' comeback as he came off the bench and caught fire from the 3-point line in the final 16 minutes. Scott went 3 for 5 from deep and scored 13 of his game-high 15 points in the second half. Mitchell as a team was 7 for 18 from three-point range for the game.

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The Tigers were able to tie the game at 33 and then, again, late in the fourth quarter at 36 after senior Anthony Jaramillo cashed in on a layup plus the foul with 2 minutes remaining.

The momentum for the Tigers was short-lived as Mitchell hit a quick 3-pointer by Scott and a layup by guard Philip Booze to stretch the lead back to five points with 1:50 remaining.

The turnover bug continued to plague the Tigers offense in their comeback attempt as they committed three turnovers after Jaramillo's basket to aid Mitchell's run and finished with 21 turnovers for the game.

"(Mitchell) was quick with their feet and moved well laterally when we tried to penetrate," Javernick said. "They helped well and just played good defense on us."

Javernick led the Tigers with 13 points, nine of which came in the third quarter. Javernick also recorded three blocks.

The win broke Mitchell's four-game losing streak coming into Tuesday and dropped the Tigers to their third heartbreaking loss in the last four days. The three defeats have been by 10 combined points.

"We just talked about it in the locker room that this is the fourth game for us that is has come down to executing offensively," Baxter said. "This is great experience for us and one of these days we're going to break through."

Baxter's players echoed his confidence that the team will be able to grow from the tough-luck losses that have transpired to begin the season.

"There are no negatives, just positives we're taking from this," said Jaramillo who tallied nine points. "Everything is fixable. We just need a couple more games, but we'll be good."

The Tigers will be back in action again at 7 p.m. Friday when they try to bounce back against Elizabeth.